Jesus Freaks (Recollections of a convert to Islam) When I was a child, growing up in the sixties and seventies just a few blocks away from the notorious Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, I was surrounded by the hippie movement. It was a “turn on, tune in, drop out” age of sexual freedom, cultural revolution […]
Man is made to adore and to obey: but if you will not command him, if you give him nothing to worship, he will fashion his own divinities, and find a chieftain in his own passions. —Benjamin Disraeli, Coningsby The critical difference between Jesus’ teachings and the Trinitarian formula lies in elevating Jesus to divine
Divinity of Jesus — An Inquiry Read More »
Biblical Inaccuracy and John 3:16 (Part 1 of 5) For many, the Christian-Muslim debate revolves around the issue of biblical inaccuracy. I am one of many authors who have addressed this topic in everything from brief pamphlets to full-length books. For the purpose of this article, however, I would like to focus on just one
Al Jumuah Magazine Article Part 1 Read More »
Biblical Inaccuracy and John 3:16 (Part 2 of 5) In this article we continue our examination of Biblical inaccuracy, taking as an example the famous verse, John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Something that
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Biblical Inaccuracy and John 3:16 (Part 3 of 5) The following is a summary of what we have covered to date in this series of articles: Episode 1: The gospel known as ‘John’ almost certainly was not written by the disciple John; Episode 2: Bible translators illegitimately capitalized ‘him’ in John 3:16 (“For God so
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(Part 4 of 5) The lynchpin of John 3:16 and, for that matter, of the entire Christian concept of redemption by faith, is the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. John 3:16 tells us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
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Biblical Inaccuracy and John 3:16 (Part 5 of 5) To recap, in the last four episodes of this series we discussed the following regarding John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”: The Gospel book of
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I remember a beautiful line in a movie I once saw, in which a father described his happy-go-lucky son as “a failure in everything but life.” Some people know how to succeed on societal terms, others know how to live, on their terms. Me, I want both. Screech! With all four tires of the vehicle
From the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Damascus Document and the Pesharim (“commentaries,” singular: pesher) date the Essene community’s birth to 390 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. Since Jerusalem was destroyed in 586 BCE, that would put the community’s inception at 196 BCE (before the Common Era—the zero point of the Gregorian calendar). These documents
Author’s Note on the Dead Sea (i.e., Qumran) Scrolls and the “Teacher of Righteousness” Read More »
As a consummate professional, nothing annoys me more than the way authors are disunderstood. Like right now. See, you’re probably thinking I don’t know that “disunderstood” isn’t a word. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Disunderstood most definitely is a word – it’s my word. Look at it this way: when you were a
The Disunderstood Author Read More »
